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U.S. District Judge Michael McShane, seen in this 2013 photo when he was still a Multnomah Circuit Court judge, will rule on a legal challenge to Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage.
(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)

Starting next week, the
spotlight on the status of gay marriage in America will shift to the Eugene
courtroom of U.S. District Judge Michael McShane – who finds himself in an
unusual position.

Unlike the five federal
judges who have struck down laws prohibiting same-sex marriages in other states
in recent months, McShane won't have anyone in the courtroom defending Oregon's
constitutional ban when he holds
oral arguments Wednesday.

And, unlike the other judges,
McShane also happens to be one of just nine openly gay members of the federal
judiciary, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

It's an unusual combination
of factors for the 53-year-old jurist, who has served as a federal judge for
less than a year.

McShane, citing the sensitivity
of the case, declined to be interviewed for this story. But friends say they're confident he'll
produce a careful decision while setting aside any personal feelings.

"You don't want to be the
lawyer going in saying with a wink, 'I'm the lawyer on the gay-marriage side
and he's going to be with me,'" says Lane Borg, who heads Metropolitan Public
Defender and has known McShane for decades.
"They would be ill-advised to think that just because Michael is gay
that he is going to rule that way."

View full sizeHere's a state-by-state look at the status of gay marriage in America.

Still, the widespread view is
that McShane will follow the lead of other federal judges in ruling that
same-sex couples have the right to marry.
Backers of a gay marriage initiative are even asking McShane to rule by
May 23 so that they don't have to take their fight to the November ballot.

In his courtroom, McShane
will face a battery of lawyers all telling him to strike down the 2004
voter-approved constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one
woman.

Several lawyers on both sides
of the issue say the lack of opposition will almost undoubtedly lead McShane to
strike down Oregon's constitutional prohibition.

"That would appear to make
the case a foregone conclusion," says William Duncan, who heads the Marriage
Law Foundation, a Utah-based group opposed to same-sex unions.

If McShane decides to strike
down the law, his major issue may be whether to stay his decision while appeals
are heard from other states – or whether to allow gays and lesbians to begin
marrying in Oregon.

McShane's own journey to the
federal courthouse in Eugene has been unusual enough.

He grew up in a conservative
Catholic family in small-town eastern Washington. After college, he came to Portland with the Jesuit Volunteers
Corps and counseled homeless parolees and probationers.

That led him to law school
and then work at Metropolitan Public Defender, where Borg and others say he
quickly became one of the sharpest and hardest-working trial lawyers in the
office.

He became a pro tem judge in
1997 and a full Circuit Court judge in 2001.
Around the courthouse, he became known for going to unusual lengths to
try to help defendants turn their lives around.

He and his staff held a
Friday breakfast club for probationers he knew wouldn't get regular supervision.
Once, he offered the shoes off his feet to a bare-footed defendant. Another time, his socks.

He also regularly met
defendants for their scheduled early-morning appointments at Hooper Detox,
reasoning that they would be more likely to actually show up if they knew
McShane was there waiting for them.

"Your only option is to be a
disinterested observer and watch a train wreck, or step in," McShane told
Willamette Week in a 2010 interview.

For all of that, McShane also
earned the respect of prosecutors, who quickly came to see him as evenhanded,
says former Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk.

"He's not super-harsh or
super-lenient," says Schrunk. "He's fair
but not a pushover."

McShane also became known
around the courthouse for having a temper.
He could be particularly tough on lawyers he saw as unprepared. One prosecutor privately calls him an
"equal-opportunity screamer" given to chewing out hapless attorneys.

McShane became part of a
four-judge team that handled the county's aggravated murder cases.

"I don't think there is a
judge in the state who has handled more death penalty cases than he has," says
fellow Multnomah Judge Eric Bergstrom, a former prosecutor who became a close
friend.

"He's a big collector of
people around him," Bergstrom adds. "He
throws a big taco party every Christmas, and you'll see an eclectic collection
of people. ... He's just instinctively warm and welcoming."

Oregon's gay marriage case in federal court

Where it stands: U.S. District Judge Michael McShane will hold oral arguments at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in his courtroom in Eugene.

What the plaintiffs say: Four gay and lesbian couples filed two lawsuits – which have been consolidated into one case – saying their federal equal protection rights were violated by Oregon’s constitutional provision limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

What the defendants say: Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced that she also believes Oregon’s ban on same-sex marriage should be overturned.

What’s next: McShane has not said when he will rule. If he strikes down the prohibition – as he is widely expected to do – he could allow same-sex marriages to immediately begin in Oregon.

For years, McShane collected
religious icons and was frequently given pictures of St. Michael.

"I don't think he's a practicing Catholic," says
Bergstrom. "But I think it informs his
life. ... I think he would say he considers himself a Catholic."

With one longtime ex-partner,
McShane adopted a young boy, now 20, who had come from an abusive home. He's now helping rear the 13-year-old nephew
of his current partner, Gregory Ford, who has gone back to school to become a
nurse.

McShane's sexual orientation
may have helped him get a foot in the door to be considered for a federal
judgeship. The Obama administration has
pressed for a more diverse federal judiciary. The five finalists for the Eugene
judgeship that McShane won included three women, one an African-American.

Opponents of gay marriage
have stayed away from McShane's court -- declining, for example, to file any
"friend of the court" briefs aimed at influencing his thinking. Some say there's little reason to get
involved since they don't have standing to appeal. But there's been some
grumbling about McShane's involvement in the case.

John Eastman, a
constitutional law professor and chairman of the National Organization for
Marriage, an anti-gay marriage group, questions whether McShane has a conflict.

"The question is not his
sexual orientation," says Eastman, "but whether he is situated identically to
the plaintiffs and will benefit from the exact relief he provides to them."

In other words, McShane could
also get the right to marry his partner if he strikes down the Oregon
prohibition on gay marriage.

After Walker retired from the
bench, he said publicly for the first time that he was gay and in a long-term
relationship.

Walker's successor, Judge
James Ware, refused to vacate the decision, saying that the presumption about
Walker's state of mind "is as warrantless as the presumption that a female
judge is incapable of being impartial in a case in which women seek legal
relief."

In an initial court hearing with
attorneys involved with the current case, McShane made clear his willingness to
recuse himself if there were any concerns – and he didn't hear any.

John Parry, a Lewis &
Clark law professor, says the court system is based on the belief that judges
can set aside their own opinions.

"It's not like straight
judges will necessarily be neutral in their thinking," says Parry. Still, he adds, he's sure the judge knows his
ruling will attract a lot of attention.

"I would expect," Parry says,
"Judge McShane to take extra care with the opinion."